Posted By Rich Bryant on October 22, 2011

When I was a young man I was surprised to learn that local farm operations near my home town would regularly go to the bank to take out loans to make payroll during that time of the year that the farms were not productive (aka “winter” – never use a single word when ten will do!).  It made me wonder just how close to insolvency these farms were, and as my own family was involved in agriculture as well, caused me to feel a little insecure.

Now, with many years behind me and running my own small business, I can appreciate what was really happening in my little community (and certainly in communities across the US).   It’s probably something taught in Business 101 in college, but as an engineer it’s a class I never got around to taking.

All those farms – and I’m sure countless other businesses throughout the US – were simply using the bank as a financial ‘shock absorber’ to absorb the financial bumps that come between times of plenty and leaner times.  Without  that shock absorber businesses would be forced to lay off employees having critical knowledge and skills. And, without that continuity, those businesses would simply fail to exist.

Imagine, then, the incalculable damage that would be done to this nation were banks allowed to fail and close their doors – even if depositors were made whole by the FDIC (this isn’t about depositors).  Such an event would lead to a domino effect that would close the doors of vast numbers of businesses throughout the US.   Unemployment would run rampant and scenes from the Great Depression would be replayed nightly on television screens everywhere (or at least in places where the electricity to run those television screens could still be afforded).

There is a legitimate reason for banks to be bailed out.  What puzzles me is why one never hears it mentioned.   The current economic downturn may be a long term affair, but it is far preferable that the change happens at a pace we can adapt to rather than overnight.

If the bank bailouts accomplish that, then more power to ‘em!

Category: Business 101, Current Events, Opinion | Comments Off
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Posted By Rich Bryant on July 15, 2011

This week I met with a fellow businessman to discuss …. well …. business.   In the course of our conversation my guest remarked … “I just can’t seem to get any business out of Latin America”. On hearing that a little genie in back of my head said, “Well, of course he’s not getting any business, he’s trying to ‘sell down’!”.

When getting out in the river in a row boat you know that it’s going to be much easier to paddle downstream than upstream.  And this is an analogy that holds true in business.  You just can’t imagine how many businesspeople (myself included) will insist on rowing against the current.  And, at the end of the day (which may be a decade later) there are no fish in the boat!

Now, let me clarify my metaphor.

Companies hire people offshore because they can get the same work done at lower prices.  However, the corollary of that is that the people and companies in these offshore locations cannot, in general, afford to pay the same prices for goods and services as we do in the US – because they don’t have as much money (because we don’t pay them as much – get it!?!?).

So, if you are sane, you’ll hire offshore when you can, but you’ll seek customers onshore.  To try to reverse that model is to be rowing against the current!

However, this lesson can be applied more generally to purely domestic business as well.  You see, just as some countries have lower budgets than others, so it is between organizations as well.  Smaller businesses generally have access to less capital than larger ones.  So, in keeping with the principle of going “with the current” a business should seek out customers that are larger than themselves.  If you have a company with annual revenues of $1 million, and smaller company with annual revenues of $200,000 walks in the door (or maybe an individual with no budget and a just an idea), then experience will teach you that this could turn out badly.  On the other hand, if IBM walks in the door wanting to do business then you’ll be bringing out the champaign.

I know I seem to be stating the obvious here – but in the real world the situations are often not so easy to distinguish between, and there is the potential for disaster.

Do you realize that even at the depths of the a dead economy, if you offered to pay others to do their work, that you would have no end of work?  Well, that’s no different than making a business deal that loses money.  This leads to RULE #1….

RULE 1: All business is not worth doing!

So, how do you handle a customer who walks in the door that is quite possibly a money-loser?  The answer should be obvious – you refer them to your competition!

And Now – an Exception to the Admonition!

Now, let me take my perfect little business equation and complicate things a bit. There are times when it does make sense to ‘sell down’.  This is the case when your product is a mass-produced commodity. If you sold everyone in China a cell phone and made a $10 profit on each sale, you would have a LOT of revenue.

This is exactly the type of reasoning that caused Hewlett Packard to transition itself from a company that once made the Rolls Royce of specialty scientific and medical equipment into a company that sells low cost printers.

So, I maintain that to understand how you need to sell your products you must first understand if your product is a mass-produced commodity intended for a vast customer base.  If so, then by all means give your arms a good workout rowing against the stream (but you’re gonna need a LOT of money!)

Once you understand your product, then the business to pursue should become apparent.

Category: Business 101, Opinion | Comments Off
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Posted By Rich Bryant on February 11, 2011

Around the summer of 1968 my home town of Milan, Tennessee unveiled some improvements to the local sports complex that were designed to lure families away from their television sets to get a little physical activity.  Installed behind the local (now lost to time) Park Avenue Elementary School were a few shuffleboards, stick hockey sets and numerous other little diversions; with the crown jewel being a nice volley ball court set up alongside the pre-existing city tennis courts.  Today, over 40 years later, if you know where to look you can still see a patch or two of those old concrete shuffleboard courts peeking up through that sod, as nature has moved to reclaim that for which man no longer has use.

But on this particular summer night when the upgraded facility was unveiled we kids were excited.  There was a charge in the atmosphere that was normally reserved for nothing less than a county fair.  It was on that night that several of us neighborhood boys – none over twelve years of age – gathered under a big oak tree, that the gauntlet was cast down by my own cousin, who challenged me to a “cussin’ contest”.

Now, this particular cousin was well-known for his use of the vernacular, so this challenge was tantamount to, in the modern day, being challenged to a swimming contest by Michael Phelps.  Even now I blush at the thought of the candidate “cuss words” that swirled through my head as I prepared to meet the challenge.

And, gathered all around to witness were all the other boys from the neighborhood – and even a few from around K.D. McKellar Elementary School on the other side of town!

So, myself and Hedr … er … my cousin squared off facing one another, not unlike a couple of gladiators from ancient Rome) and I let out with my selected word.  (And boy was that word a doozy!  I don’t remember the exact word, but I distinctly recall it being a doozy.)  All the other boys seemed duly impressed, but my cousin remained unfazed.

In response he said … “I don’t know what this word means, but I hear it said all the time on the farm … ‘FORK!’“.

You could have heard a pin drop there under that big, ol’ oak tree.  Every boy just stood there with their mouth gaping open in surprise and astonishment.  I didn’t know the meaning of the word myself, but I did know when I had been soundly defeated.

As I walked away from that group with my head hung in the shame of defeat I recall having a single thought.  That thought was, when I was old enough to visit the family farm, I was going to say … “SPOON!“

Category: Unconventional Wisdom | Comments Off
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Posted By Rich Bryant on December 16, 2010

It is apparent now that the lame duck Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is engaged in a process of steamrolling into existence a basket full of legislation that was flatly rejected by the American electorate in this past November’s election.

Having lost the mandate, and indeed the confidence, of the American People, should the outgoing House be immediately displaced by its newly-elected membership? Is there some historical precedent that might pave the road to a premature reclaiming of sanity in Washington DC? In fact, there is such a precedent at the state level!

In the Fall of 1978 the voters in the state of Tennessee voted to replace their incumbent Democrat governor, Ray Blanton, with his Republican challenger, Lamar Alexander.  During his lame duck tenure Blanton subsequently began issuing highly questionable pardons for prisoners throughout the state. It was later revealed that these pardons had, in fact, been issued in exchange for bribes. This was sufficiently evident to those in Tennessee that many Tennesseans began to wear tee-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘Pardon me Ray’.

The deluge of pardons was sufficiently egregious that Lamar Alexander was hastily summoned to be sworn in and assume the office of governor three days before his scheduled inauguration.

Are not the actions of today’s House of Representatives  even more destructive to the entire nation than those of Ray Blanton? Is it not incumbent on the new House of Representatives to assume their respective seats immediately for the best interests of the nation?

Category: Current Events, Opinion | 74 Comments »
Tags: government, politics

Posted By Rich Bryant on December 10, 2010

The shelves of bookstores are lined with all manner of business-related books that beckon to the reader with promises of the secret to success. While each book (and the number that have been published through the years is countless) promises to deliver profound secrets for changing one’s life, often the “secrets” contained therein end up being either a rehash of common sense knowledge or, in other cases, approaches that ultimately yield the same old lackluster results.

Over many years, however, I have come to realize a single rule for business success that I believe can and will (assuming that the business has a viable product) result in tremendous positive results. Furthermore, though I’m sure it must have been alluded to elsewhere, it is not a rule that I’ve personally seen represented in any of the aforementioned references.

It is, in summary, the secret to total success in business – which I present here for public consideration.

THE “GARBAGE SCOW” AND THE “TIGHT SHIP”

There are two and only two types of ship on the ocean. The first we’ll call the “garbage scow”. On this ship the crew is poorly disciplined and motivated, and spend more of their time sitting on the deck of the ship with their legs dangling over the edge than they do in actually running the boat.

The “tight ship”, on the other hand, is run by a captain and crew that are motivated to “step lightly” and discharge their duties quickly and efficiently. As a result the tight ship accomplishes its goals (and then some!).

A business that has a viable product and which runs a ‘tight ship’ is, by definition, going to be very successful. So, the secret of this article is the secret for running a tight ship in business.

The business secret shared in this article is related to personal relationships within the business vis-a-vis the structure of the organization. Before covering the successful business model it is useful first to cover two very common models that will yield the opposite of success.

SIDENOTE: Really bad things eventually happen on garbage scows. Idle minds really are the Devil’s workshop!

THE “TWO-TIER FRIENDLY MODEL”

Consider first the case of a hypothetical company that has employees in two tiers. The top tier is upper management (often a single individual) with the bottom tier consisting of everyone else. Furthermore, consider that in this case the owner/manager occupying the top tier maintains a casual and friendly relationship with everyone working for him/her in the second tier.

In this situation it is simply a byproduct of human nature that the workers will, without conscious thought or any intention of malice, take advantage of that friendly relationship to work with less drive and diligence.

The result, 100% of the time, is a garbage scow. (In this case even the captain of the ship is sitting on the deck with his legs dangling!)

THE “TWO-TIER TYRANNICAL MODEL”

Consider next the case of a hypothetical two-tier company in which upper management is extremly harsh and demanding of the lower-tier. You now have a situation that is rife with unmitigated negative emotion, resulting in distressed employees and high turnover. Once again the business has degenerated into a garbage scow – this time with captain sequestered away in his cabin and out of sight virtually 100% of the time.

Now, let’s learn from these two failed models and imagine a business model that is stable, and which results in business running as a ‘tight ship’.

THE MODEL FOR SUCCESS – THE THREE+-TIER FRIENDLY/DETACHED MODEL”

HINT: There is a reason that a well-run ship has not only a captain, but a first mate as well!

Having come to understand business models that fail, we are now in a position to understand a business model for running a tight ship. That business model is for a business that exists in more than two tiers, and which has distinct and reasonable rules that govern relationships between workers.

In this case the rule for relationships is … “Be as friendly as you wish to be with those in your own tier, and in the tiers immediately above and below you, but have minimal interaction with all others”. This rule will not only produce a highly-successful business, but it will also keep everyone focused on their own business domain (the CEO should never spend time teaching the mailroom clerk now to stuff envelopes!).

To understand why this is such a successful model let’s return to the metaphor of the ship at sea, manned by a Captain, his trusty First Made, and the Crew.

In accordance with our rule the Captain has a great personal and friendly relationship with his First Mate, and the First Mate enjoys a nice working relationship with every member of the crew. However, the Captain has very little direct personal interaction with the Crew.

With these close personal relationships comes loyalty – one of the most important and constructive forces in any ship (or any business). However, the Captain’s detachment from the Crew means that he/she can feel perfectly reasonable and comfortable in expressing any displeasure with the Crew with his First Mate. This means that an ineffective Crew member knows that he must stay diligent at his job or risk dismissal from the Captain, regardless of his relationship with the First Mate.

Now you have an environment filled with pleasant, constructive and professional relationships that also reenforces diligent work amongst the employees. Sales and marketing feel driven to produce sales while engineering is driven to produce new products to sell. Stress is virtually non-existent.

And business proceeds apace with profits rolling in.

Category: Business 101, Unconventional Wisdom | 52 Comments »
Tags: Business 101

Posted By Rich Bryant on December 8, 2010

DISCLAIMER: One reading this article might wrongly conclude that the Tea Party is exclusively aligned with the Republican Party – a belief that I would like to dispel immediately. I have met some very decent and principled Democrats at Tea Party events, and would like fewer things better than to see them bring the universally-applicable principles of the Tea Party to their own side of the political spectrum. The references to the Republican Party in this article only reflect my own personal experiences and affiliation.

For the past many months I have been attending various Tea Party and other similar conservative political activist events in my city, and have seen a lot of good ideas shared, and actions undertaken for many good causes. However, in this last election cycle I’ve also observed far too many “old guard” leaders preserving their stranglehold on leadership.  These old guards of the Republican Party bring an excess of old, failed ideas and approaches to the table, and their retaining hold on office is a lost opportunity for positive change.  They are, in fact, the ones who’ve helped to bring us to our current miserable economic state of affairs (sometimes though active participation, and other times through inaction when action was warranted).

At the urging of our local Tea Party leadership my wife and I joined the local Republican Party Executive Committee (RPEC), where we have watched all this unfold. And, during that time I have asked myself, “How can the Tea Party activists begin to exert strong influence within the Republican Party?”.  Last night, amid defeat, I saw the answer.

Last night was the bi-annual election of officers at our RPEC, and I observed two outstanding candidates from the Tea Party challenge the leadership for the highest leadership offices.  One of those candidates secured only five percent of the vote, while the other secured a more respectable thirty-five percent.  Neither of them won the election, and our RPEC left the building with the same leadership that walked in.  A great opportunity to bring about some positive and exciting change during this next election cycle had been lost.  While those leaders who won were very fine and upstanding individuals, the opportunity for the Tea Party to take greater ownership was missed.  And, it is these elected officials who heavily influence the field of candidates that run for office during each election cycle.

My own post-mortem analysis of this defeat came easily, and it related to the original encouragement we had received from our local Tea Party leader to get involved in the Republican Party Executive Committee.  You see, only a small percentage of us Tea Partiers took her up on that invitation – and we were the ones last night who stormed the proverbial castle gates only to be hurled back by the old guard.  Had many more Tea Party members accepted that challenge then we would have seen some radically positive change last night – the kind of change that can truly shake (and shape) the world.

If the Tea Party continues to confine itself to monthly meetings at the local pub then Republicans (and all Americans) can expect to experience more frustration as we approach Gomorrah.  If, however, Tea Party members begin to find their way to the venues of the existing mainstream political parties then we may yet extricate our nation from the dangerous vortex that draws us ever downward.

Category: Current Events | 54 Comments »
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Posted By Rich Bryant on December 5, 2010

Ok, I get it! Somewhere along the way you worked in some big, bad corporation and they were mean and heartless to you. The company had absolutely no heart, and wouldn’t cut you an inch of slack to accommodate the needs of your personal life. And as a result, you’re going to use the power of your vote to get back at those evil corporate bastards, and make them pay through the nose!

I’ve been there, I know the feeling. In fact, I’ve seen much worse.  I’ve seen corporations force a young man to leave his wife for a business trip just hours after she had miscarried. Well, OK, maybe it wasn’t the corporation as much as it was his ass of a boss, but still this is a moral crime that needs to be laid at the feet of the evil corporation.

So, we vote into power political leaders who punish corporations with all manner of taxes and regulations. We’ll tax them until they are utterly destroyed, and then there will be nothing but light and goodness left in the world.

But, before we say goodbye to the evil corporation let’s take stock of what the corporation has contributed to our immediate environment.

I don’t care who you are or where you are, open your eyes and make note of those items around you that were produced by corporations. I don’t care if you’re camping out on the side of the Himalayan Mountains, your eyes are going to scan across any number of items that, truth be told, are tremendously significant to you.

Sitting here scanning my living room I see first the laptop computer on which I am typing this article. I see the nice wide-screen HDTV, the amazing Blu-Ray player, the lamp on the corner table (and the corner table itself). And then there are the rows of video games and movies that were each produced for my entertainment by evil corporations. If I let my mind’s eye mentally wander through the house taking inventory of each room I am flooded by images of items produced by corporations that are essential to my comfortable life. (I won’t even talk about the critical items to be found in the restroom!).

All these modern conveniences are far too complex to be produced by any entity conceived by man other than the corporation. It takes large numbers of “investors”, pooling their resources and providing personnel with strong motivations (motivations of both the carrot and stick variety) to produce the modern wonders in our lives.

And, when we raise taxes on these corporations, what do you think happens to the prices of the goods they produce (if the corporation decides it’s worthwhile to continue producing them)? I really don’t have to answer that question, do I?

Of course corporations, like any human community, are full of the frailties and imperfections of the people of whom they are composed. And of course it’s the duty of the corporation to maximize profits, just as it is your duty to support yourself and your family. And it is the job of government to enact and enforce reasonable laws that cause corporations to behave themselves.

We should stop looking for love within the walls of the corporation, and be happy with the pay check and professional growth that we do find there. The place to look for love is at home, not on the factory floor.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:
I’ve given this topic a little more thought and would like to correct myself. There do exist those corporations that are, in fact, evil – though they are few and far between. These are the corporations that seek to grow largely through political connections and feeding substantially at the public trough. Such corporations exist in a realm outside the reach of the market forces of supply and demand, and grow only at the expense of the taxpayer. How could a corporation, for example, that strongly influences to government to outlaw natural competitors to their own genetically-altered and non-reproducing crop seeds, be anything other than evil? How could a corporation that knowingly builds a “highway to nowhere” at the public expense be anything other than evil?

Such organizations are more conspiracy than business, and should be treated accordingly. They unjustifiably taint the image of legitimate businesses, and profoundly undermine our society.

Category: Business 101, Opinion, Unconventional Wisdom | 25 Comments »
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Posted By Rich Bryant on October 4, 2010

DISCLAIMER: The author is receiving no compensation from any business mentioned in this article.

It’s been many years since I had any stronger attachment to a computer than the dispassionate attachment of a workman for his tools. All that has changed, however, since I took ownership of my little, refurbished Gateway LT3103U mini laptop. This renewed passion for technology is not a result of any new hardware or software, but rather on this particular computer’s propensity for greatly easing the burdens of my day-to-day life.

A picture of the LT3103U netbook by Gateway

I had carefully selected this make and model after considerable research, and waited patiently for a full year as I accumulated budget and built a business case for it.  As that year progressed, however, I learned to my dismay that this particular model was no longer available from Gateway.  This led me to a search on eBay, where I found a vendor (eritech.com) that offered a refurbished unit at about 66% the cost of a new unit.  I decided to give it a try.  (Now it was definitely within my price range at a modest price of $290!).

The original unit I received from Eritech had a problem with locking up (probably due to internal heat issues), so I had to send it back to them for repair/replacement. This added a delay of 3-to-4 weeks to my acquisition, however I must say that Eritech was very proactive in keeping me up-to-date on the repair.  Finally, however, I received my unit and it has subsequently worked flawlessly.

Since that time the LT3101U has exceeded my highest expectations.  If I want to video conference the built-in webcam makes it very simple.  With headphones plugged in the stereo audio is really out-of-this world (I really enjoy using it during my off hours just to watch music videos on YouTube).  The high-res graphic display is crystal clear as well, and the 2 gigabytes of native memory (expandable to 4 gigabytes), coupled with the whopping 250 gigabytes of built-in disk capacity, allow me to do anything on this little beast that I normally do on much larger machines. While the machine comes with a 64-bit AMD single core processor, it comes with 32-bit Windows Vista installed (I have a disk containing 64-bit Windows 7 sitting here just waiting to be installed when I work up the requisite courage!).

The LT3103U is as close as a computer can get to being a netbook without actually BEING a netbook. While the standard netbook features a sometimes impractically-small 10″ display, a sometimes impractically-powered processor and an always impractically-sized mini-keyboard, the LT3103U has all the power and capacity of a standard laptop computer squeezed down into the smallest form factor that can accommodate a keyboard with standard-sized keys (the keys are rearranged a little for the sake of compactness). It’s six-cell battery means that I’m no longer teathered to a wall outlet to get real work done.

As a result I’ve been able to stay connected and accomplish work tasks from anywhere and everywhere. Next month as I cruise down the interstate while on vacation I fully expect to have this laptop out keeping vital lines of communication open and business flowing.

Even as I sit here composing this blog posting on this magnificent little  computer  I am simultaneously participating in an online conference via soft phone and editing a document in Microsoft Word.  I’m not nearly as limited as one is with a standard netbook.

Maybe on this Friday morning I’ll elect to trundle into the office to face my bigger workstation – but with this little machine available at home … maybe not!

Category: Business 101, Technology | 46 Comments »
Tags: computer, laptap, netbook

Posted By Rich Bryant on September 29, 2010

I’ve always been a big believer in the philosophy, so well enunciated by Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, that “a man’s got to know his limitations”. As a result when I started my fitness program some eighteen months ago I pondered exactly what my limitations might be. It occurred to me that well over one quarter of a century had passed since I had placed any serious emphasis on fitness, and that a person can change tremendously over such a period. So, if I wanted to avoid a painful setback (or worse!), I had better not take the sorry state of my physical condition for granted.

It was with some dark amusement that a picture popped into my head of ancient Egyptian mummies that have been confined in the still darkness for multiple millennia. The archaeologists who uncover them must handle these mummies with extreme care lest they crumble to dust at the slightest touch. So this became my private metaphor for my own physical state after more than twenty-five years of sedentary living.

SIDE NOTE: Many of those years of inactivity were attributable to a mis-diagnosis I had received of ‘chronic bronchitis’ that I was going to have to ‘learn how to live with’ (after seven years it was cleared up by a round of antibiotics administered for an entirely different malady – never give up hope!).

So, with the assumption that my body was in a ‘delicate state of decomposition’ I started my program. This was a very helpful assumption because it caused me to ramp up the intensity of my workout gradually and build on a solid, sensible foundation. For me this meant starting the first year with half of each lap in the pool being a backstroke. When I added weight training after ten months in the pool this meant starting with lighter weights (and doing more repetitions per set).

Last week while at the gym on the torturous rowing machine (I hate that thing!) I noticed a strapping young college-aged man on the shoulder press machine beside me. Since that particular machine requires the weights to be manually mounted before use, gym etiquette requires that once one is completed at that station they unmount their weights (otherwise the next person wanting to use that station may be unable to change the weights). I noticed that this young man had one hundred and ten pounds mounted, while I generally use ninety pounds at that station for myself.

After completing my set on the rowing machine, as I sat catching my breath, the young man finished his set and began to unmount his weights. Looking over to him I suggested … “Don’t bother, I’ll use those weights next.”

And then it occurred to me, I was no longer a fifty-two year old mummy!

Category: Workout Diary | 33 Comments »
Tags: exercise, swimming

Posted By Rich Bryant on September 14, 2010

One has ample opportunity for introspection while scrubbing used three- and five- gallon food buckets for re-use as long term emergency food storage; and so today I took that opportunity to consider how I have evolved as a prepper since setting my feet on the path over one year ago. By understanding how my own perceptions and thoughts have evolved I hope to stimulate other preppers to reconsider and refine some of their own preconceptions.

Here are some areas in which my thought processes have changed:

MAYBE / PROBABLY NO OVERNIGHT EVENT

Initially I was of the opinion that we were building up to some cataclysmic event after which there was going to be sudden anarchy. Now I’m starting to realize that this is probably (and fortunately) not going to be the case. However, I am equally certain that we’re in the midst of that descent at this very moment, and that one should take advantage of every opportunity to prepare for the further descent of society to something much less civilized than that to which we have become accustomed.

WATER

When I started prepping I studied the acquisition and processing of water carefully. For anyone who has researched this subject you already know there are a few options and many considerations associated with obtaining drinkable water. There are different chemicals that can be used for purification, different means of distillation, etc. Also, there are many very fine water filtration devices offered by a number of companies.

However, after much consideration I’ve “boiled it down” (pun intended) to a very simple and safe process. 1) Collect rain water, 2) Filter it, 3) Boil it, 4) Drink it. Also, rather than dropping a couple of hundred bucks on a commercial filter I’m building a very nice, durable filter from PVC pipe for about $7 that will get the job done. The savings can then be used to feed my household for an extra 2-3 weeks.

Rain water is the one source that you can pretty much count on as being free of chemical pollutants, and if you assume you’re using rain water then your other options become much simpler.

BUILDING-YOUR-OWN

When I started prepping I conducted extensive research to learn of the best brands of survival gear. However since then I’ve learned that many things can be made at home, and the benefit of anything that you make at home is that you can probably maintain and repair it when it breaks (for example I’ll not have to stockpile several expensive replacement water filters if I use my home-made filter and have a decent supply of activated carbon).

Also, rather than purchasing pre-filled buckets of emergency food supplies I’ve located a zero-cost source of used food-quality buckets from a nearby company (they’re happy to part with them, and we’re happy to receive them!). This means I save about $8.50 per container and will probably ultimately get my survival food stores at less than half the full-package prices. It also means I’ll know what’s in those vacuum-sealed containers before I need them.

Once again, this means my household will be able to acquire and store that much more emergency food provisions.

IMPORTANCE OF GUNS

When I started prepping I thought that guns were critically important to defending the home from wandering hordes of ‘zombies’. Then, as I became distracted by the infinite details of becoming prepared, this concern faded into the background.

Now that we’re about to actually have emergency stores on hand I’m becoming aware that I was right the first time, and that it’s going to be critical to have the ability to defend those stores.

ROLE OF FORMER LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL

Early on I gave very little thought to any replacement social structures that might emerge in the event of a total societal collapse. But, after just a little logical deduction, and after reading corroborating opinions from others more knowledgeable than I, I have concluded that it is only logical that members of the pre-collapse law enforcement community would begin to act as local ‘warlords’ in a post-collapse scenario. After all … 1) They are trained in the use of force and intimidation, 2) They have not been highly paid, and trust ‘the system’, hence many will not be prepared for a collapse, 3) We citizens have been pre-conditioned our entire lives to accept them as authority figures and 4) In a post-collapse scenario most people will be desperate for any feeling that there is a central authority, so they’ll “have the votes”.

If this happens, then one of the first things to expect is the confiscation of all “hoarded goods” for the common good (even though those goods will frequently find their way into the household of those same authority figures!).

So, post collapse there will be structure imposed I believe, and it’s a good idea for the prepper to be ready to exist in that scenario (which leads us to our next topic…).

IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A STRATEGY FOR DECEPTION

As an extension of the projected role of law enforcement personnel described in the preceding section, there will be a need for the successful prepper to be able to effectively conceal their stores of provisions. Without a plan for this many preppers will find that they’ve just been prepping for someone else! So, in this case my personal evolution is that I’ve come to the realization that simply storing food in the closet is insufficient in the wake of a major disaster.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY – THE DANGER OF ISOLATION

My early concept of the ultimate prepper was someone who had a farmhouse in some isolated location ready for occupancy. However, that vision has changed dramatically for me after a few months of meditation on the subject. Post collapse, more than ever, there is “strength in numbers”. Only as part of a community will one be able to relax their vigilance to get any sleep at all. A small family in an isolated location will present itself as a tempting target to ‘zombies’ (who will often have the advantage of surprise). Hence, the isolated farm may not be as secure as it seems.

My new vision of a successful prepper is someone who has inserted themselves into a small town that has some agricultural capabilities. Roadblocks can then be set up on all roads leading into the community, and a more diverse set of skills will be available to the residents (e.g. medical care). The successful prepper, therefore, may not be living in a remote farm house, but in a cheap, low-cost duplex within the confines of some small town (total population ideally somewhere between five and ten thousand).

VIEW ON “BUGGING OUT”

In my early days as a prepper I imagined my family driving north to other locations in response to societal collapse. But, as time passed I started to ask myself “where would we go that we would be welcome for the long term?”, and I started to realize that for many reasons this may not truly be a viable option. Also, I read and view many prepper sources that suggested that bugging out was going to take the form of a long hike overland (later I started to realize that most of these “authorities” were folks who did a lot of recreational hiking, and that this might be an example of every problem looking like a nail to a person with a hammer).

I’ve now come to view the dangers of societal collapse as being like a forest fire that will “burn past you” if you just wait it out. Certainly in the wake of such an event there will be devastation – even danger – however the peak of the danger will be probably be a relatively short-duration spike that one should be prepared to weather.

So, unless I win the lottery before the disaster, “bugging out” is no longer in my vocabulary. What *is* now in my vocabulary is networking with fellow preppers (and maybe even local law enforcement personnel), pre-identifying how a disaster community might quickly be formed in my area and developing the ability to defend my home and possessions (and, of course, having plenty of provisions).

IMPORTANCE OF INCORPORATING PSYCHOLOGICAL DIVERSIONS

Originally I imagined the successful prepper having all the necessities for life and nothing more or less. However, with some time to think (and listening to others) I came to realize that human beings can benefit greatly from diversions that allow them to look away from sources of stress. If my family is huddled in our home without the benefit of utilities we’re going to be pretty miserable. However, in that desperate situation if we have a Frisbee or a baseball to throw around, or have the ability to somehow back a simple pan of brownies, we might just put a little smile on our faces that gives us the strength to carry on a bit longer. So, I now envision not just necessities as being part of the prepper’s store of supplies, but a few niceties as well.

Hopefully my sharing of my own personal evolution as a prepper (an evolution which I’m sure is ongoing) will facilitate the reader’s own personal evolution; so that we all survive a bit better and ultimately flourish together!

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